While research finds that demand for “overloaded” courses often creates bottlenecks during the registration process that hinder on-time graduation, better use of time and space on campus can help to unlock hidden capacity. Ad Astra national research suggests that classrooms were only used for 39 percent of what two-year institutions consider the standard week. During peak hours, classroom utilization can range from 63 percent at community colleges to 70 percent at public universities.
“Our students’ ability to achieve their goals—whether that be transfer, a certificate, or degree — depends upon the availability of the right courses at the right time,” said Jamey Nye, Vice Chancellor of Education and Technology for the Los Rios Community College District. “Many of our students are juggling other work and family commitments, putting the onus on us to build schedules that are flexible enough to meet their evolving needs. Ad Astra’s analytics-driven approach will help Los Rios discover and address unintended barriers to success that can be created through schedules—while helping students identify the fastest path to completion.”
Los Rios is the second-largest community college district in California, serving about 75,000 students across four colleges in the greater Sacramento region. Across the state of California, nearly 20 community colleges work with Ad Astra to accelerate time-to-completion, eliminate course bottlenecks, anticipate student demand for courses, and reduce wasted time and space. Working with 230 community college partners nationwide, Ad Astra pairs deep consulting expertise with patented technology to generate and utilize business intelligence for academic units, and support student-centered and efficient course schedule creation.
“Across the country, community colleges are facing dynamic enrollments as well as shifting funding policies that require new approaches to ensuring student success,” said Ad Astra founder and CEO Tom Shaver. “Los Rios is among a growing cadre of forwarding-thinking institutions that are leveraging the transformative potential of data to rethink the scheduling process and improve student outcomes. "
